Virgin Media plans free Wi-Fi for London

At an investors conference Virgin Media’s CEO Neil Berkett said the company was in “quite advanced negotiations” with various London boroughs and councils to provide free Wi-Fi throughout London in the not too distant future. Virgin plans on offering a 0.5Mbs service to everyone and a 10Mbs service to Virgin Media customers. Virgin hope to achieve this by installing Wi-Fi routers in its existing infrastructure such as street-side cabinets, which are currently used to distribute its cable network to homes.

While this will not improve cashflow for Virgin, Becket explained that he was taking a punt on a few million pounds into free Wi-Fi which he hopes will “enhance digital lifestyles”.

London mayor Boris Johnson wants the capital to become a free Wi-Fi zone in time for the London 2012 Olympics.